The present invention relates to a personal computer, a caller""s telephone number storage apparatus, a caller""s telephone number storage method, and a storage medium. Particularly, the present invention relates to a personal computer, a caller""s telephone number storage apparatus, a caller""s telephone number storage method, and a storage medium, each that can hold the telephone numbers of incoming calls and can read out them later.
Recently, accessing to the Internet and transmission and reception of e-mails are sharply increasing in general homes. With the increasing variety of life styles, information transmission by means of termination-system applications for the conventional facsimile machines, telephone-answering machines, or the like are being still used in unattended states or at SOHO (Small Office Home Office).
The termination-system service is required to deal with 24-hour unattended operation like a sole facsimile machine or telephone answering machine. In some recent personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PC), part of the internal system can operate in a standby mode to detect incoming calls. Thus, the PC enables the start-up of the operation system (hereinafter referred to as OS), the loading to the modem driver, and moreover the start-up reception of a communication application (hereinafter referred to as AP). The PC standby-mode establishing method is roughly classified into two types. There is a tradeoff between the demerit of the delay to activation of the termination-system AP and the merit of the sleep depth of the personal computer and the resultant reduction in standby power consumption.
In a shallow sleep mode, the PC system operates widely so that the standby power consumption is not low. However, since the operation system is in a startup state and the modem driver is in a loaded state, the PC system can detect signals from a facsimile machine or telephone answering machine according to a proper application in a relative short time after incoming call detection.
In a deep sleep mode, the standby power consumption can be reduced. However, the reception procedure including the startup of an OS or the loading of a modem driver takes much time after incoming call detection. In some communication procedures, the incoming call may not be received using a proper application. There are three types of conventional modems for receiving incoming calls, that is, a controller-type modem, a controller-less-type modem and a software-type modem. The so-called controller-type modem substantially operates by itself when an AT command being a software interface from the upper application is input while the modem status is being properly reported to the upper application for the personal computer. The so-called controller-less-type modem, which is relatively inexpensive, uses the upper CPU that partially controls AT commands, data compression and correction, or the like. The software-type modem uses the upper CPU that performs modulation and demodulation. Now, a shift from the controller-type modem to the controller-less-type or software-type modem is the recent trend.
Recent personal computers and modems that can operate in the system operational state are becoming dominant. In a standby state, the system may not be able to receive according to a sleep depth or an incoming call communication procedure.
Hence, the PC power management standards are specified to meet the trend of the architecture technology of such PCs or modems. The standards are specifically called the ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface) which specifies the procedure of handling incoming calls from modems and performing power management.
In the ACPI standards, the S3 state, for instance, defines a sleep mode where a RAM (Random Access Memory) can hold information recoverable to the status operated immediately and previously in a relative low power consumption state so that the system can restart (resume) within a short time of about 10 seconds from an incoming call. Since the sleep mode corresponds to about three rings by a common telephone set, the incoming of a general application can be received.
Recently, a caller telephone number display service (hereinafter referred to as number display service) has been commercialized as a new service by NTT (Nippon Telegram and Telephone Corp. in Japan). However, as to the caller telephone number displaying procedure, the requirements specify that the line is primarily closed within about six seconds for data reception. The recent controller-less modems and software-type modems, described above, do not have their own intelligences. Hence, the problem is that the number display data (caller telephone number signal) cannot be received and held in the S3 state of the ACPI standards when the personal computer is in a deep sleep state to reduce its power consumption.
The present invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems.
The objective of the invention is to provide the technique that can recognize the telephone number of an incoming call even in a sleep mode of a personal computer. In this technique, an external circuit itself holds the telephone number of an incoming call at the minimum and then the stored data is referred to, if necessary, when a suitable application activates after start-up of an operational system.
The objective of the present invention is achieved by a caller telephone number storage apparatus, wherein a caller telephone number signal is received and stored in a caller telephone number display service, comprising a detector for detecting a ring signal peculiar to a caller telephone number display service; a receiver for receiving a caller telephone number signal transmitted via a predetermined line; a switch for connecting the line to the receiver; and a line controller for controlling the switch when the detector detects the ring signal, so as to connect the line to the receiver in a predetermined reference period of time, and controlling the switch when the receiver has received the caller telephone number signal, so as to disconnect the line from the receiver; and storage means for storing a caller telephone number corresponding to the caller telephone number signal received by the receiver.
The caller telephone number storage apparatus is connected to a personal computer. The caller telephone number stored in the storage means is read out according to a predetermined application for the personal computer. The detector, the receiver, the switch, the line controller, and the storage means are power supplied normally.
The line controller controls the switch to connect the line to the receiver in six seconds after the detector has detected the ring signal.
The storage means comprises an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).
The caller telephone number storage apparatus further comprises a timer for measuring the reference time.
Moreover, the objective of the present invention is achieved by a personal computer, wherein a caller telephone number signal is received and stored in a caller telephone number display service, comprising a detector for detecting a ring signal peculiar to a caller telephone number display service; a receiver for receiving a caller telephone number signal transmitted via a predetermined line; a switch for connecting the line to the receiver; and a line controller for controlling the switch when the detector detects the ring signal, so as to connect the line to the receiver in a predetermined reference period of time, and controlling the switch when the receiver has received the caller telephone number signal, so as to disconnect the line from the receiver; storage means for storing the caller telephone number signal received by the receiver; and read-out means for reading out the caller telephone number stored in the storage means.
The detector, the receiver, the switch, the line controller, and the storage means are power supplied normally.
The line controller controls the switch to connect the line to the receiver in six seconds after the detector has detected the ring signal.
The storage means comprises a EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).
The personal computer further comprises a timer for measuring the reference time.
Furthermore, the objective of the present invention is achieved by a personal computer, wherein a caller telephone number signal is received and stored in a caller telephone number display service, comprising a first receiver that operates in a system operation mode; a second receiver for receiving a caller telephone number signal transmitted via a predetermined line, the second receiver being normally power-supplied in an operation mode; a detector for detecting a ring signal peculiar to a caller telephone number display service, the detector being normally power-supplied in an operation mode; a switch for connecting the line to the first or second receiver, the switch being normally power-supplied in an operation mode; and a line controller for controlling the switch when the detector detects the ring signal, so as to connect the line to the second receiver in a predetermined reference period of time, and controlling the switch when the second receiver has received the caller telephone number signal, so as to connect the line to the first receiver, the line controller being normally power-supplied in an operation mode; storage means for storing the caller telephone number signal received by the second receiver; and read-out means for reading out the caller telephone number stored in the storage means.
The line controller controls the switch to control the line to the second receiver in six seconds after the detector has detected the ring signal.
The storage means comprises an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).
The personal computer further comprises a timer for measuring the reference time.
Moreover, the objective of the present invention is achieved by a caller telephone number storage method, wherein a caller telephone number storage apparatus is connected to a personal computer and receives and stores a caller telephone number signal in a caller telephone number display service, comprising the steps of detecting a ring signal peculiar to said caller telephone number display service; closing and opening a predetermined line; controlling the line within a predetermined reference period of time in the line closing and opening step after the ring signal is detected in the detection step; receiving the caller telephone number signal transmitted via the line closed in the line closing and opening step; and storing a caller telephone number corresponding to the caller telephone number signal received in the receiving step; the line controlling step including the step of opening the line in the line closing and opening step when the caller telephone number signal has been received in the receiving step, whereby the caller telephone number stored in the storage step is read out according to a predetermined application for the personal computer.
Moreover, the objective of the present invention is achieved by a caller telephone number storage method, wherein a caller telephone number signal is received and stored in a caller telephone number display service when a personal computer system is In a sleep mode, comprising the steps of detecting a ring signal peculiar to a caller telephone number display service from a predetermined line; closing the line in a predetermined reference period of time after the ring signal has been detected in the detection step; receiving the caller telephone number signal transmitted via the closed line; storing a caller telephone number corresponding to the received caller telephone number signal; and opening the line in the step of receiving the caller telephone number signal when the caller telephone number signal has been received.
The caller telephone number storage method further comprises the step of reading out a caller telephone number signal stored.
Moreover, the objective of the present invention is achieved by a storage medium, wherein a program is stored for receiving and storing a caller telephone number signal in a caller telephone number display service when a personal computer system is in a sleep mode, the program comprising the steps of detecting a ring signal peculiar to a caller telephone number display service from a predetermined line; closing the line in a predetermined reference period of time after the ring signal has been detected in the detection step; receiving the caller telephone number signal transmitted via the closed line; storing a caller telephone number corresponding to the received caller telephone number signal; and opening the line in the step of receiving the caller telephone number when the caller telephone number signal has been received.
The program further comprises the step of reading out a stored telephone number signal.
In the personal computer, the caller telephone number storage apparatus, the caller telephone number storage method, and the storage medium, each having the above-mentioned configuration, a ring signal peculiar to a caller telephone number display service is detected. The line is closed within a predetermined period of time when the ring signal is detected in the detection step. The caller telephone number signal transmitted via the closed line is received. A caller telephone number corresponding to the received caller telephone number signal is stored. The line is opened when the caller telephone number signal has been received. The stored caller telephone number is read out according to a predetermined application for the personal computer. In such a configuration, even when the personal computer is in a deep sleep mode, the caller telephone number can be held. Hence, when a suitable application starts up after activation of the operation system of the personal computer, the telephone number held can be read out, if necessary. This feature allows the standby power consumption of the personal computer to be reduced greatly.